Maker’s Mark – History: I saw this on the Travel Channel’s “Made in America” show, about Maker’s Mark Bourbon: “1943 Bill Samuels, Sr. decided to create a distinguished style of bourbon whisky. So he left the T.W. Samuels Distillery and…
Here is the actual ad that ran during the game, after seeing the preview here. If you’re reading this via RSS or a news reader, come visit the actual blog page to view the commercial video. So, the “joke”…
Kevin Meyer, over at Evolving Excellence, gets credit for finding this first — GM’s Super Bowl commercial: My comments, posted on Kevin’s site: Imagine if the billions GM spent on technology development had been put into people development and lean.…
Dell rings Bell to run US – Sunday Times – Times Online: It’s a common phrase in the manufacturing world, the “make or buy” decision. One of my pet peeves came up in an article about Michael Dell returning to…
Lean Blog: Lean Should be Better Supported by HR I got this email from a blog reader, name withheld: “I read your items about annual reviews and had to email. I work for a large global corporation that says it…
Fatal Dose: Ohio Girl is Killed By Medical Mistake Here is a sad story of a girl’s death due to a hospital pharmacy mistake. Pharmacies oftentimes just repackage and dispense “off the shelf” drugs (such as pills), but they often…
The Connecticut Post Online – Bridgeport plant powers up for military Here’s an article that talks about a company using lean to support growth. This is an important lesson and concept because growth is what allows us to take efficiency…
Business Report – Toyota’s gold standard status at top of quality pile takes a knock on 500 000 recalls: Here’s an article that examines if Toyota’s quality is slipping or not. This detail was interesting for some perspective on Toyota’s…
Deming listed the annual review process as one of the “deadly diseases” of management. From this website: “Evaluation of performance, annual review, merit rating. nourishes short-term performance annihilates long-term planning demolishes teamwork promotes competition builds fear promotes playing politics destroys…
In the Lead – WSJ.com The WSJ wrote Monday about the leadership styles of Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, the Super Bowl coaches for the Colts and Bears. The Super Bowl should be required viewing for managers who think screaming…
Coping With Disaster – 1/30/2007 – Manufacturing.Net Here’s another article with the theme of how “just in time” (JIT) is too risky for supply chain purposes. This type of article usually pops up in the WSJ about once a year…
Press-Telegram – Toyota’s Long Beach roots: Here’s an article about Toyota’s first U.S. plant, where they finished trucks in California: “Back in the early 1970s, the company’s Japanese executives were wary of American production capabilities. The plant here served as…
